Firstly, let's puts things into perspective. Although the current state of affairs is fairly amusing to non-Man United fans (me included), it's not like the world is about to end. United will always be there or there about (with the occasions slip), so others are just enjoying your pain while it lasts. That said, there are a number of things that are contributing to your current predicament, and I wondered how you fans viewed the situation. Allocating out of a total of 100, how would you split the "blame" for what is going on now, between: - David Moyes - The players (who, in the main, are the same as last season) - Sir Alex (for leaving, what some would say as, a team in decline) - The owners (most people like to blame their owner at some point or other - £'s / support etc.) I appreciate football is a time of many ups and downs, you're just on the down right now. Genuinely interested in your views.
Surprised that Fergie's off the field influence is never mentioned. Say what you like, he had off the field influence, he knew how to manipulate refs before a game and there was a strong United presence in the FA. Add to that moyes is new, clueless and a team of people who are probably not fond of each other has fallen apart without Fergie's imposing personality to keep them together and focused. I really do believe that the players think Moyes will be gone come summer, they are playing like they think he wont be around long. Players perform to a lesser degree for someone they don't respect. I don't think they believe in Moyes.
The majority of it is the Glazers fault, id say about 90% there fault. We have not been competing with the Chelsea's and City's for the signatures of the top players, and instead relying on SAF to cover up the obvious weakness's in our side. I don't buy the claims from SAF that the money was there if he needed it, so he has to take a small proportion of the blame, for covering up for them. Though I can understand why he couldn't just come out and say the Glazers won't give me the money I want for players. Even in recent seasons, our head to head record with City and Chelsea hasn't been great, and that's because both teams have had better players than us. Fergie was just the master of motivating the players we had to win 3 points every week against the weaker teams, where as City and Chelsea would get complacent in these games. If you watch the 2 FA Cup ties against Chelsea from last year, and then the 2-1 loss at home to City, you would have seen the difference in quality between us and them. David Moyes was destined to fail right from the beginning, as he was taking over from a genius who was massively over achieving with those players. Fergie had also spent years and years getting to know the players he had, he knew all there strengths and more importantly weaknesses. So Moyes has come in and he's expected to pick up where Fergie left off, which was always going to be an impossible task. I happen to think Moyes is a decent manager, and he deserves more time to turn things around. I actually admire the fact he hasn't walked yet, with all the pressure he has been under. It's ashame now that some fans are turning on him too, as that is only going to add to the pressure he's already under. You should be venting your frustrations at the Glazers not Moyes
With respect, 'decent' is not good enough for a successor to SAF. Moyes has got Untd into the mess and nothing he has done convinces me and thousands of others that he is the one to get Untd back to where they are at least challenging for top spot. The Glazers will make their decision not based on the feeling of fans, however, it will be made by the financial position of the club. That is going to take a big hit next season when there are no European games to boost income. It may be that the Glazers have already factored this into their plans and have come to the decision that Moyes is unlikely to do more damage than he has already done and on that erroneous assumption, will keep him into next season. If so, more bad times are ahead.
The truth is it's a combination of all four. The Glazers for not giving sufficient money to keep the squad fresh season on season. Ferguson for cow towing to them and allowing that to happen Moyes for not having a clue tactically or inspirationally to get the best out of a decent set of players The players for not being able to handle change and not stepping up for a new manager. That's in basic terms, can't be arsed to flesh it out.
I'lll let this Daily Telegraph article answer that - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...David-Moyes-must-leave-Manchester-United.html
Moyes - 50% (partly because he is not SAF so there's nothing he can do about that, and partly his lack of tactical nous and a coherent gameplan in the big matches) Players - 45% (senior players not performing are the main culprits) SAF - 5% (for not bolstering the midfield, but credit to him for continuing to perform so well with the squad despite this) Glazers - 0% (they've provided plenty of transfer funds and big wages to Rooney etc.)
Moyes - 60% - Sure it's a tough job, but does anybody really think we'd be in the same place had we hired Mourinho? He's not a bad manager, but i just don't think he inspires any belief in the players. There's a small club mentality written all over our performances this season. I'm not calling for the sack just yet, but i think he's got until Christmas to turn it around. Players - 30% - There's a lot of senior, title-winning players who haven't been close to good enough. When all the players lose form at once, however, it doesn't reflect well on the manager. Sir Alex - 5% - Perhaps should have done more in his final seasons to improve the squad, but (under him) they were good enough. Was key in appointing Moyes. Glazers- 5% - Did they prevent us from getting the players we needed to maintain the standard of squad we had in 08? Maybe, but this season they've appointed the choice of the Sir Alex and then supported him with plenty of transfer funds. Also, at other Clubs Moyes would already be gone by now and the Glazers deserve credit for their patience.
Sir T Interesting that only a few people are coming down on the players and putting a large chunk of the blame in their general direction. A bit like Chelsea (my mob), who clearly have a massive influence on the match, "changing room", training, accidental tweets etc. etc., and have contributed to the downfall of a number of managers. I suppose it is also a massive downer on the manager and his ability to coach/manage these players who often look like they don't want to play for them.
Moyes 70% Players 25% Fergie 3% Gill and the board 2%. Moyes takes the vast majority of the blame. hes the manager. The buck stops with him the players havent performed. It is however the managers responsibility to change that. he hasnt. If the players are as much to blame as Moyes then why do football clubs need managers. I used to say anyone could manage Barcelona. I was wrong. Fergie didnt address a few issues. However his intentions were always good. Gill and the board shouldnt have let Gill and SAF leave at the same time.
Interesting how little of the blame goes to Fergie and the Glazers from the posters above. Put it like this, The Glazers set this whole ball rolling. Saddling the club with massive debt. As a result of this, our midfield and centre of defence has aged and deteriorated before our very eyes. This is a simple fact. Also a fact is that Fergie continued to deny there was a problem, saying there was no value in the market (utter tosh) and instead made big signings here and there to patch up the problem and other signings he hoped would come good. Some did, many haven't. It worked last season, he made a marquee signing in RVP and got the desired results. In the meantime all the other clubs seemed to sign the odd CM here and there so they must have existed. He also put forward Moyes as his successor with no other candidate allowed. Fergie and board are equally as culpable as the players. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the four split equally into 25% segments. Fergie is a legend of titanic proportions but this could have been nipped in the bud five years ago.
Mata - Midfield 27.5m Fellani - Midfield 37m Kagawa - Midfield 12m Zaha - Midfield 15m Powell - Midfield 4m Jones - Defender 16.5m Young - Midfield 17m Valencia - Midfield 16m Obertan - Midfield 3m Smalling - Defender 10m That's from the last 4 years. That's £158,000,000 Manchester united have spent in 4 Years on Midfielders and Defenders. Funds are not the problem right here
Which was the point. Smalling and Jones are two who fall into the taking a chance category, neither being the finished article we needed. They've given the odd marquee signing and a few hopeful, cheap (relative) punts. The truth is that while it looks a lot it is nothing compared to our peer clubs. + edit, your sum fails to take into account us selling Ronaldo for eighty million pounds +
